Survive to fight
by Serenola Greenleaf
Summary: Aragorn meets up with Legolas on his way to investigate some rumours about a slave settlement. Along the way, the run into a group of slavers. The pair gets captured and then have to survive as slaves then fight for freedom. Will they make it? Read & R


Arrest and Trial  
  
Chapter 1: Enter the slavers  
  
Two beings emerged from the cave which they had made there camp to wait while the storm passed. The day was clear and the path was free from the rubble caused by the recently passed storm. The two beings eat a small meal and quickly packed up camp to proceed as quickly as possible to carryout their mission. Originally, the pair was just one man. A ranger, travelling from the north to investigate rumours of a slavers settlement in the west of Gondor. Along the way, he had met an elf that he had been friends with since the man was a boy. After learning about the nature of the man's mission, the elf had eagerly offered to assist him with the mission. Knowing full well the usefulness of having a friendly elf presence with him, from his earlier adventures with his twin elf brother's, the ranger quickly agreed. They were now days of hard riding out from the settlement. As the horses were tired, even for elf trained horses, the two decided to take the rest of the journey slower and spend the time catching up on adventures the two individuals had had.  
  
"And it was only then that Gimli realised that the man he had been arm- wrestling with and playing drinking games with was actually a female! No need to say that when he poor dwarf found out, he went even redder than the mead he was drinking." Said the man through fits of laughter, as he recalled a recent visit to the tavern with an old friend and the antics were bought on by the affects that the few pints of very strong mead.  
  
"And what, pray tell, did you get up to Aragorn, surely you wouldn't let some dwarf best you in your rather constant consummation of mead when near a tavern." the elf questioned once the initial laughter at his dwarf friend's antics.  
  
"Nay, it is not so Legolas. I can hold my liquor much better than that of our dwarf friend." Aragorn pointed out which could have been taken for truth if it hadn't been for the mischievous grin that seemed to have stuck itself onto the ranger's face.  
  
"Need I remind you of what happened when he tried to have a bachelor party for Trendoli and your little run in with that fruit merchant on your way back to the inn?" Legolas pointed out in all seriousness, remembering the painful experience that had been found at the fruit merchants selling vessel once he had learned their names and had tracked them down.  
  
"That was hardly my fault! I think. I don't know.. I can hardly remember that night." Aragorn said in all seriousness trying to recall the fuzzy events of that night.  
  
"Why am I not surprised? But I can assure you that you shall never see me under the influence of that evil liquid!" promised the elf, and he intended to fulfil that promise. Well, at least until he was safe that he could do so without forever tarnishing his reputation and without causing any damage to his name that could affect his homeland in Mirkwood or the ranger's highly respectable opinion of him.  
  
"No, but I shall love to be present if and when that finally does happen. And I shall never forget to remind you of that either!" Cheerily pointed out the ranger.  
  
"Yes, and I shall be wea.." And the elf suddenly stopped speaking and stopped his horse with a little too hard of a pull on the reigns. The horse bucked slightly in protested but sensing his rider's sudden caution and nervousness it soon calmed and went silent. The ranger slowly and silently bought his horse back round to his companion drawing his bow and arrow readying for the danger the elf sensed.  
  
"There's about seventy of them. Not too far from here. About forty on horses, thirty on foot. The horses walk proud and strong, but those walking seem weary and tired." Aragorn slowly let this arrow fall loose in his bow. Reflecting on what the elf had heard he could think of only one possibility.  
  
"Slavers!" Aragorn declared softly to his friend.  
  
"Foul scum! Enslaving their own kind. Purely evil beings. We must do something. We can not let them continue knowing that their captives will suffer for the rest of their lives!" Legolas declared with outmost disgust at what some people are capable of.  
  
"They may even be part of the rumoured settlement in the west. We are only 2 days out now. We shall follow them closely. Forty on horses you say? With only thirty slaves. The slaves may be new and not too worn. Given the opportunity, they may be able to rise up against their captors and assist us in destroying them." Aragorn quickly forming a plan. "I have an idea, but it is very risky. You'll just have to trust me."  
  
"With my life!" replied the elf.  
  
********************  
  
Budgie was the leader of the troop for that was sent to gather more slaves for the rise in the demand. Less then five days out from their home settlement, they had run into a band of wanderers. None of them were proper warriors and subduing them with no damage to his troop was simple. As they returned, the troop came across several lone travellers and now they were apart of their little line of chained new slaves. He had been gone less than 2 weeks and he was returning with enough slaves to satisfy the demand until the other troops returned with their own captives. Pilotia will be very pleased with him. She may even give him a few more extra men under his control.  
  
As he rode on his beige stallion, it's white tail and main swished in the cool breeze that swept through the trees. As he turned a small corner, he heard the unmistakable sound of someone coughing. It was music to his ears. Another person to enlarge his reward from Pilotia. Halting, he signalled to his men that half were to stay here and half were to follow him, as they had done several times already. He always took his best men with him, no matter how weak the person looked, there was usually a struggle and he wouldn't allow any of his possible captives to escape.  
  
They walked almost silently through the dense trees until they came across an old man sprawled on the ground under a tree. He reeked of mead and something putrid that was so bad he tried to hold his breath. He signalled two of his men to go over and capture the old man. Backing away until he was in breathable air space he watched as the two men he had signalled closed in on the old man. The man didn't appear to really take any threat from them, he just sat and coughed. After a particularly bad string of coughs that made his men stop in their tracks, he saw two arrows fly out of the trees and lodge themselves into the throats of his men.  
  
"ATTACK!!!!!" Budgie yelled as he continued to watch the only target he could see, the old man. Budgie preferred to let his men release any anger that they welled up instead of finishing the fight too quickly so that his men were unsatisfied. Suddenly, the old man stood up, swept off his cloak and drew a long sturdy-looking sword. The sick old man, turned out to be a warrior in disguise, and by the looks of him, he appeared to be a ranger. Rangers were too much trouble he barely paid too much attention to them as he seemed to loose too many men through dealings with them, but this one had made him look like a fool. Slaver Budgie shouldn't have been fooled by a miserable attempt by a ranger. *He will pay. Him, and his little friend in the tree.*  
  
Arrows seemed to rain down on his men. Most were stopped by the armour they wore; Budgie was daring but not stupid. But some pierced the armour in battered places or in the small joins between the armour in the necks and legs. Most of his men were trying to climb the tree that the arrows were coming out of to get the archer. But whoever the archer was, they were an excellent shot, as his men climbed the tree; they fell down with an arrow somewhere on them. As he looked over the "old man", the ranger was holding his own. He took on three men at a time, he was so busy that he couldn't land a killing thrust so he dealt short stroke that injured and slowed down his opponents. Despite his best efforts, the ranger was slowly being surrounded by his men. Once they caught the ranger, they can force the archer in the tree to come down.  
  
******************  
  
Aragorn watched as the men drew closer. Counting them quickly, he transmitted the number to Legolas who was in the tree above him. Legolas, despite his good eye sight, would be slightly at a disadvantage as the only tree suitable had thick branches towards the outside and Legolas would be unable to see if any other slavers were standing back. He watched as the leader of the slavers, a tall, thick muscled man with raged black hair and piercing green eyes, slowly backed away from him. *Those herds are putrid, but they help in slowing them down at first so Legolas can have a chance to react quicker.* Aragorn thought as he tried to breath in as much air as possible.  
  
He saw the leader signal to two men to come and capture him. *Ha, fat chance* Aragorn thought smugly as he had a fitting cough, the signal to Legolas to fire as soon as he got a clear shot. Moments later, he saw two arrows strike the two men in the throats. The initial shock by the leader was quickly covered by his command to attack. Aragorn leapt up and threw away the stinking, old cloak and drew out his sword. He met all the men head on. Trying to draw them away from the tree slightly to give Legolas a better shot, he slowly edged his way away from the tree. However, his plan backfired. As soon as he was away from the safety of the tree at his back, the slavers began to circle around him. He saw men climbing the tree but came crashing down again as Legolas shot them with an arrow. With Legolas busy with those trying to get to his hiding place in the tree, Aragorn was by himself, and greatly outnumbered. He used short strokes that wouldn't take too much of his stamina or balance to execute. Soon, he was completely surrounded, and he watched as the leader walked up into the centre of the group. The men stopped fighting Aragorn at once. They just stared at their leader and at Aragorn. He, Aragorn, readied himself for a fight to the death. However, this leader was cowardly and a cheat. Aragorn's instinct told him to move, but it was too late. He felt something hard hit his head and he blacked out.  
  
The leader looked down at the now unconscious ranger. Drawing his own sword, Budgie rolled the man over and placed his foot on the chest of the downed man and leant on his knee. His sword was placed casually beside the man's neck.  
  
"Hey archer! Might I strongly suggest that you give up now, so that you and your friend may live?" He yelled at the hidden archer.  
  
Legolas looked over to where the yell had come from. To his horror, he saw Aragorn, unconscious with the leader holding his sword to his throat. Indecision welled up in Legolas. He couldn't become a slave, if he gave up now, he'd become a slave. If he didn't, then both Aragorn and he would die.  
  
"You have 10 seconds!" called the leader again.  
  
"Call your men away from the base." After a moment, Legolas replied firmly. With a nod from the leader, the men at the base of the tree walked away, forming a large circle around its base. Wishing that there was some way that he could stop the slavers from taking his favourite bow and quiver, Legolas admitted to himself that when he finally broke free, he could simply steal them back. If they weren't sold or burnt or destroyed, the voice of reason called in his mind.  
  
"Time's up!" called the leader.  
  
"WAIT! I'm coming down!" Legolas called down. *now or never.* he said to himself. Legolas jumped down onto the ground and landed softly. He stood up straight and looked the leader straight in the eye, putting as much stubbornness and determination that he could muster into that stare. After several moments, the leader and his men finally overcame their shock to discover that the man that had been shooting at them from the trees with such accuracy was actually an elf.  
  
"Well now, a ranger and an elf travelling together and fighting together? Now I've seen everything!" exclaimed the leader and he laughed with his men.  
  
"Not everything!" replied Legolas in a soft but strong way. "You shall see the end of your settlement, the end of slavery and then, you will come to an end as you have a personal encounter with my long blades." Promised Legolas and he watched in fascination as the leader seemed slightly put off by this. Never the less he recovered quickly.  
  
"Shackle them both up, keep them separate from each other." He said to his men, then he walked up to the elf. "Welcome to your new life, I'm sure that you will find your new life as a slave a very unpleasant and particularly painful one. Especially if my lady agrees that I wish to keep a particular slave that caused me a great deal of trouble." And he ran his finger under the chin line of the elf who snatched his head back away from the man.  
  
"Welcome to your new life, and I promise it's going to hurt." Said the leader with much malevolence in his voice.  
  
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Well, this is my new story. I hope you all like it. Young and the Senseless will get a 5/6 chapter soon. Please review this story so that I can get some ideas on if you's like the way this story is heading. Thanks. 


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